I am currently reading How Democracies Die, by Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt, which I purchased for my Leave.X persuasion award. The book was published in 2018, the year that the far-right Bolsonaro won the Brazilian elections.

I remember several people asking me how that was possible. I had some insight into it, but I find the examples of democratic backsliding given in this book very elucidative.

Reading just half of the book has made it clearer to me how the two major parties in Brazil, the PT (Workers Party) and the PSDB (Social Democrats), reached a point of no return and allowed an outsider to come to power. It also explains how institutional forbearance became so weak that mutual tolerance ceased to exist.

The book is also very instructive on how an outsider could win the presidential election in one of the most successful democracies.

I wish I knew more about German politics so I could understand better the forces allowing the AfD to grow.

Worth reading!

#Democracy #FarRight #Tolerance #Brazil #Bolsonaro #USA #Trump #Germany #afd